With the Boer Forces | Page 3

if they continue in their determination to erase the two nations. Unless the Boers soon decide to end the war voluntarily, the real struggle will only begin when the Imperial forces enter the mountainous region in the north-eastern part of the Transvaal, and then General Lucas Meyer's prophecy that the bones of one hundred thousand British soldiers will lay bleaching on the South African veld before the British are victorious may be more than realised.
One word more. The English public is generous, and will not forget that the Boers are fighting in the noblest of all causes--the independence of their country. If Englishmen will for a moment place themselves in the position of the Boers, if they will imagine their own country overrun by hordes of foreign soldiers, their own inferior forces gradually driven back to the wilds of Wales and Scotland, they will be able to picture to themselves the feelings of the men whom they are hunting to death. Would Englishmen in these circumstances give up the struggle? They would not; they would fight to the end.
HOWARD C. HILLEGAS. NEW YORK CITY, August 1, 1900.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE WAY TO THE BOER COUNTRY
The Blockade at Delagoa Bay--Lorenzo Marques in war-time--Portuguese tax-raising methods--The way to the Transvaal--Koomatipoort, the Boer threshold--The low-veld or fever country--Old-time battlefields--The Boer capital and its scenes--The city of peace and its inhabitants.
CHAPTER II.
FROM FARM TO BATTLEFIELD
The old-time lions and lion-hunters and the modern types--Lion-hunting expeditions of the Boers--The conference between the hunters and the lions--The great lion-hunt of 1899-1900--Departure to the hunting-grounds.
CHAPTER III.
COMPOSITION OF THE ARMY
Burghers, not soldiers--Home-sickness in the laagers--Boys in commandos--The Penkop Regiment--Great-grandfathers in battles--The Takhaar burghers--Boers' unfitness for soldiering--Their uniforms--Comfort in the laagers--Prayers and religious fervour in the army.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ARMY ORGANISATION
The election of officers--Influences which assert themselves--Civil officials the leaders in war--The Krijgsraad and its verdicts--Lack of discipline among the burghers--Generals calling for volunteers to go into battle--Boers' scouting and intelligence departments.
CHAPTER V.
THE BOER MILITARY SYSTEM
The disparity between the forces--A national and natural system of fighting--Every burgher a general--The Boers' mobility--The retreat of the three generals from Cape Colony--Difference in Boer and British equipment--Boer courage exemplified.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BOERS IN BATTLE
Fighting against forces numerically superior--The battle at Sannaspost--The trek towards the enemy--The scenes along the route--The night trek--Finding the enemy, and the disposition of the forces in the spruit and on the hills--The dawn of day and the preparation for battle--The Commandant-General fires the first shot--The battle in detail--Friend and foe sing "Soldiers of the Queen."
CHAPTER VII.
THE GENERALS OF THE WAR
Farmer-generals who were without military experience--A few who studied military matters--Leaders chosen by the Volksraad--Operating in familiar territory--Joubert's part in the campaign--His failure in Natal--His death and its influence--General Cronje, the Lion of Pochefstroom, and his career--General Botha and his work as successor of Joubert--Generals Meyer, De Wet, and De la Rey, with narratives concerning each.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WAR PRESIDENTS
The Boers' real leader in peace and in war--Bismarck's opinion of Kruger--The President's duties in Pretoria--His visits to the laagers and the influence he exerted over the disheartened burghers--His oration over Joubert's body--His opinion of the British, and of those whom he blamed for the war--His departure from Pretoria--President Steyn and his work during the war.
CHAPTER IX.
FOREIGNERS IN THE WAR
The soldier of fortune in every war--The fascination which attracts men to fight--The Boers' view of foreigners--The influx of foreigners into the Boer country in search of loot, commissions, fame, and experience--Few foreigners were of great assistance--The oath of allegiance--Number of foreigners in the Boer army--The various legions and their careers.
CHAPTER X.
BOER WOMEN IN THE WAR
Boer women's glorious heritage--Their part in the political arena before the war--Urged the men to fight for their independence--Assisting their embarrassed government in furnishing supplies to the army--Helping the poor, the wounded, and the prisoners--Sending relatives back to the ranks--Women taking part in battles--Asking the Government for permission to fight.
CHAPTER XI.
INCIDENTS OF THE WAR
Amusing tales told and retold by the burghers--Boy-burghers at Magersfontein capture Highlanders' rifles--The Takhaar at Colenso, who belonged to "Rhodes' Uncivilised Boer Regiment"--Photographers in battle--The heliographers at the Tugela amusing themselves--Joubert's story of the Irishman who wanted to be sent to Pretoria--The value of credentials in warfare as shown by an American burgher's escapade--The amusing flight after the fall of Bloemfontein.
APPENDIX.
THE STRENGTH OF THE BOER ARMY

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COMMANDANT-GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA (_Photograph by R. Steger, Pretoria._)
GENERAL LUCAS J. MEYER (_Photograph by Leo Weinthal, Pretoria._)
BATTLEFIELD OF COLENSO, DECEMBER 15, 1899 (_Photograph by R. Steger, Pretoria._)
BOERS WATCHING THE FIGHT AT DUNDEE (_Photograph by Reginald Sheppard, Pretoria._)
ELECTING A FIELD-CORNET (_Photograph by the Author._)
KRIJGSRAAD, NEAR THABA N'CHU (_Photograph by the Author._)
BOER COMMANDANTS READING MESSAGE FROM BRITISH OFFICERS AFTER THE BATTLE OF DUNDEE (_Photograph by Reginald Sheppard._)
GENERAL GROBLER (_Photograph by the Author._)
SPION KOP, WHERE BOERS CHARGED UP THE HILLSIDE (_Photograph by Reginald Sheppard._)
PLAN OF BATTLEFIELD OF SANNASPOST (_Drawn by the Author under supervision of General